Customer Reviews

Aion: The Tower of Eternity Steelbook Edition

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Aion is a good looking game, this is true. Looking past the pretty façade I however am left underwhelmed by the game. It doesn't seem to offer anything particularly new or exciting.

Character creation is decent, there are quite a few options to customize both your facial and body features. I can't really fault it in any way considering that you'll eventually be decked out in armor and character creation in such a game usually stands as a generic look. There unfortunately isn't much avoiding looking like everybody else in a broader sense because there are only two races. Upon close inspection you should find that most characters manage to create a pretty unique look. As you progress through the game you can choose to maintain various armor looks despite equipping other pieces though which is a nice way of looking unique in the long run.

There have so far been pretty annoying race lockouts on certain servers in an effort to balance them. For example I haven't been able to play with many of my guild mates because no more Asmodians are being allowed on their server. I imagine this will be fixed to some extent but I can't really lie and say that I'm not a bit bitter about being blocked from playing with my friends. Hopefully those who choose to jump in to the game after my writing this don't have this minor annoyance to deal with.

After some initial hiccups at launch the game actually runs quite well. Again the game looks gorgeous with interesting environments and flashy attack animations. The default UI is alright, pretty standard action bar with health bars, but if you're coming from another game it may take some getting used to. I for one am hoping for add-on support or UI customization though since I would personally prefer a slightly more minimalized UI.

The introductory zones come paired with help messages which offer limited video and audio help which I found to be a pretty nice newbie feature. Quests also have a keyword location feature which is like a built in quest helper. I find this feature to be pretty neat, I feel that it adds a sense of authentic adventuring to it for some reason and it doesn't clutter you map with all sorts of quest waypoints. So with these two features getting in to the game and advancing up to level 10 is rather painless.

At level 10ish you become a Daeva which grants you wings and allows you to choose from 2 specialties with your class. There isn't really anything of particular note here but it does add a bit more depth to game play.

Following level 10 it seems that the game becomes increasingly grindy which I don't much care for. Following level 15+ leveling is still quite doable but the rate at which I'm being rewarded for my time is a very important factor for an MMORPG for me and I don't feel that I'm gaining skills or equipment quite fast enough to hold my interest in the game. This has nothing to do with slogging through content too difficult for my character or being oblivious to other questing hubs, I'm simply noting that experience gain tapers off quite quickly. Gaining levels doesn't appear to get you anything aside from skills another factor contributing to the slow feel of the game. It has thus far been quite common for my character to go 2-3 levels getting very little aside from statistical boosts. This is hardly an issue unique to Aion but again it's another one of those things that takes away my desire to get from one skill to the next.

Eventually you get access to Stigma Stones which are sort of like a generic talent tree that allows you access to more skills. I was a rather let down to find out this was the feature which NCSoft was heralding as the way to play your character totally different from another player. While it is true that it allows you to diverge away from other players within your class specialty it isn't so broad in its choices that you'll find a slew of viable builds. I'm looking at it right now as something that will easily be theorycrafted to a point where everybody competitive will play a given class in maybe one or two ways.

Skills are pretty standard for the most part but one pretty cool thing so far is that you get chain skill where one initial attack triggers the use of further more powerful attacks. Unfortunately you can't use chain skills out of sequence but I do like the feel of an attack coming off cool down allowing you to unload on an enemy all at once. Having more than one chain attack generally allows you to be in constant active control of combat. The various chains and what you need to complete them are listed in your skills window and there appears to be quite a variety for the various classes.

Another feature I like is having your own personal shop which others will be familiar with from games such as Ragnarok Online or Fiesta Online. Basically you can open a little shop anywhere and sell your stuff. I far prefer this to auction houses typically because it allows you to be more competitive as a salesman than an auction house typically does because location becomes a valid choice and undercutting doesn't kill all chance at profits. It's also good for going afk for extended periods of time.

Flying is a big part of the game considering you have wings and all. I haven't liked flying much at all so far and I'm really kind of dreading parts of the game where it becomes more necessary. The controls seem very clunky and the limitations of cool down between use and the overall flight time lead to a high preponderance of ineffectiveness of death. You can modify your wings and combat abilities while flying so perhaps by the time I really need to worry about flying it's more tolerable but up to where I'm at now it seems little more than a poorly implemented gimmick. After quite a bit more practice with my wings I'm still only finding the flight mechanics to be marginally more tolerable, perhaps I suck but be fairly warned.

PvP has so far been respectable, especially for a rather new game. I haven't personally encountered any particular class which I feel is broken beyond belief despite some community complaints of balance issues. There does seem to be an attitude of this game and its PvP being "hardcore" and I have to comment that I feel this is a rather glorified designation. The flying adds a bit of depth and skill to PvP but I feel that's where the unique aspects of PvP in this game end. I don't think anybody playing WAR or WoW, particularly PvP servers, are going to switch over to this game and be refreshed by the PvP. It's fun and well implemented but at its core this has been done before.

Pros:
Good looking
Overall solid game
Seemingly popular

Cons:
High grind possibility
Awkward flying
Race lockouts

In summary, I don't think I'll be sticking with this one for long, I'm simply not being moved in any particular way by it currently. It's different enough from other games to warrant some consideration but it also hold so many cliché similarities that prevent me from getting too excited about it. The game has great potential for many players but I recommend taking a long look at it before biting the hype bullet. If I had to recommend it I feel that fans of Guild Wars, Lineage 2, FFXI, or even first time MMOers would like the game quite a bit.

Just putting a post, to give out some information for those folks "sitting on the fence" wondering if Aion is worth ordering or not . I'm trying not to be negative about the game per se, rather saying it maybe not for everyone. It tends to lean heavy on the "PvP-aholic"; "Grouping is where its at" ,"I luv to grind XP " style of game play. Which don't get me wrong is a perfectly valid style of play, but tastes do differ. I much prefer the exploration aspects of a Morpg verses bragging rights.

Graphically it's very nice. Similar to Guild wars in appearance,but perhaps a little more advanced and shimmering. The zones are similarly laid out; with the usual "single road" and long corridors to fight over/through. If your expecting the freedom of flying and therefore tons of massively open 3D areas; be prepared at least for levels 1-30 to be largely ground based (there's lots of no fly zones) and be hemmed in by mountains. Leveling is and can be a bit of a Lineage 2 grind fest, with the usual kill 10 of these, deliver this experience. When you start reach lvl 18 + quests , then your kinda forced to group. It's hard to solo, not impossible, just be prepared for lots of repetitive "farming". Most folks find it a drag until you reach lvl 25 then you begin the main part of the storyline.

Overall the aim of the Aion is to get you to this massive open ended Zone "the Abyss". As this is where the game is suppose to shine, with the focus tending to lean heavily on PvP and again grouping to survive. Bear that in mind if you buy the game, yes there are other things to do, crafting,big boss instances etc. But it's in the open 3D "battleground" of the Abyss, where the NCSoft are putting the heart of the Aion Experience.

Overall it's a fine MORPG, nice visuals, follows the standard pattern of leveling by gaining XP thing. And that's where it's strengths and weaknesses are. Is it a good game? Yes. But the next "big" new thing? In my experience sadly no. Hopefully one day a developer will have the courage to break free from the Everquest style of design and produce a different gaming online experience.

The first thing you'll probably notice about Aion is that it is graphically amazing. It uses CryEngine and is undoubtedly the best looking MMO in existence at the moment. Character models in particular are incredibly detailed- superior to even most single-player RPGs. Character customization is also extensive and very well done- you can truly make a unique character in every possible way, from facial features (which has more sliders than Oblivion or Fallout 3) to body appearance, armor, and size. If you want a game where you have maximum control over your look, this is as good as it gets.

Let's face it though- great graphics only take you so far. In terms of gameplay, Aion's a pretty standard MMO: trade and gathering skills, quests, dungeons, etc. This is nothing new to anyone that's played an online RPG. If you're expecting brand new game mechanics or anything revolutionary, you're going to be disappointed. That in itself isn't bad; a solid, polished, tried-and-true formula game with graphics like this would be a surefire hit. Unfortunately, Aion is far from this... very far. I can see it becoming a game to challenge the likes of WoW, but it's going to take a LOT of work, and- to be quite frank- NCSoft is not known for moving quickly on changes. Additionally, the few areas where Aion does deviate from tried-and-true game mechanics are uniformly badly implemented, and more than anything else are likely to turn off the majority of new players.

Those considering trying Aion may have heard that it's PvP oriented. This is most assuredly true, and it is a very extreme case. I've seen a lot of people complain that other NCSoft games, e.g. Guild Wars, focused too heavily on PvP. Until you've played this one, however, you've got no idea. You can PvP literally anywhere you can travel, and you can travel just about anywhere. There's almost no place that's safe- pretty much the two starter areas and the capital city are it. There is absolutely nothing preventing high level players (or, even worse, GROUPS of high level players) from entering low level areas and slaughtering hapless low level players trying to do quests. Furthermore, lower level characters are not merely at a disadvantage when encountering higher level ones. They are completely, utterly, hopelessly helpless. You can't even hit other players 5 or more levels higher than you, and even if you could it wouldn't even hurt them. This is PvP at its worst- not fair or fun in any sense of the term. There also seems to be high level players on every server that literally spend all day killing low level people, purely for fun. Due to the way the game is designed, it's not just easy to do this but ridiculously so. Even if you call over high level players from your own side to kill the offenders, they can be back in a matter of seconds. This is probably the heaviest deterrent to new players, and I actually know people that have quit this game purely because of it. I can see why: even though I enjoy PvP, I would rather do it when I want to- not when some virtual sadist 30 levels higher than me wants to. It's something that could be pretty easily remedied via patching, but I'm pretty sure NCSoft won't do it until they realize it's killing them- by which point it'll be far too late.

The problems with PvP would be forgivable if the PvE content was excellent. Unfortunately, it falls far short of that. For the most part, you're stuck doing mob killing quests, many of which are repeatable for 'reputation.' This isn't faction reputation like in WoW, though- it's per quest giver rep. If you do enough repeatable quests for someone, they give you special rewards. This sounds like a cool idea until you realize how many you have to do- on average a HUNDRED turnins. These are not short quests either; on average they take about 20 mins to complete each time! I honestly don't see why anyone would bother, or what the developers were even thinking. Most of the campaign quest content requires a group, which is inconvenient considering how few players there are at any given level on any given server (it can take upwards of an hour to put together a halfway viable group, and this is during peak hours). Dungeons are likewise lackluster and poorly designed. First off, there's absolutely no safe places- you can literally get killed by a patrol at the very entrance of a dungeon without even moving from the doorway. For some reason, there's also upper level caps on dungeons- which means you can't help lower level friends and can only run each place a few times per character. There's also a full day lockout on ALL dungeons a la WoW heroics, and this lockout occurs when you ZONE IN. To make matters worse, bosses in these instances often drop no loot. You read that right: you can run an entire instance and literally not get anything. Even worse, it's possible for items to drop that are only usable by the other faction. It remains to be explained why things are even faction-bound, but this would be akin to an Alliance-only item dropping on Horde side in WoW, with NO MEANS to move it there. On that note, you can't communicate at all with the other side. You can't even create new characters on the other side of the same server, unless you have more than one Aion account. Lastly, if you die in an instance, you resurrect wherever your bind point was. To put it in WoW terms, it'd be like resurrecting at your hearth... which is pretty bizarre. Generally speaking, instancing is unbelievably primitive and poorly executed. After seeing how badly designed the dungeons in Guild Wars were, and now this, I'm firmly convinced NCSoft is simply incapable doing it.

There's also a host of lesser things that could definitely use more polishing, such as the camera options, inventory management, and quest tracking. Some things as basic as targeting are glitchy, and there's a lot of skills and abilities that are ridiculously imbalanced. For that matter, there's just plain too many of both- enough to make your head spin even if you're a Guild Wars veteran. There's no support for addons, and macros are buggy and very limited in scope. You'll find frequent inconsistencies and problems with mob scaling, area design, and itemization. For example, quests often require you to kill specific mobs, but in the same area there'll be slightly different named mobs that look and act exactly the same... but won't give you quest credit. Many stats are either partly or totally useless, for example magic crit doesn't affect any spells- only your magic weapon autoattacks. You can also find, in almost any given zone, quests and enemies with a level difference higher than 20. When you consider there's only 50 levels in the game, you can see why this is just a tad weird.

Dying to anything but an enemy player also causes you to lose experience, and it is very easy to die. An alarming number of PvE enemies can stunlock or silence you, which means aggroing more than one is very likely to kill you unless you pop consumables. Elite mobs are often indistinguishable from regular ones, and just as often intermixed with them. Especially if you're not in plate, most of these will kill you so quickly you won't even know what hit you. There's also some other more minor quirks, such as an odd tendency for the game to quit completely if you get disconnected and melee enemies hitting you at range (good luck trying the reverse). Lag is handled very poorly- you'll often 'rubberband' just like in Guild Wars, and due to the flight aspect this can be directly fatal. Resource nodes also have an ugly, inexplicable habit of despawning if you cancel gathering or get interrupted by something. Resource gathering in general is slow, boring, and buggy- you'll often fail to gather immediately due to a bug that has inexplicably never been fixed. These issues, taken individually, might not seem irritating at first, but the more you play the more it wears on you because there's always at least one of them apparent.

Lastly, let's talk about flying. This, aside from the free-for-all PvP, is one of the 'exciting new features' trumpeted by the developers. Unfortunately, either as a result of balancing or just due to sheer lack of imagination, they've made it little more than a means of travel. And a pretty bad one, at that- even WoW's flying mounts, limited as they are to two continents, are far more flexible. The vast majority of areas disallow flying, including some places where you would think it'd be a no-brainer to allow it (e.g. capital cities, complete with floating islands accessible only by a 10 minute round trip by boat...). There's skills geared towards flying combat, but in practice it's just too unwieldy to be any fun. At any rate, there's a hard time limit on how long you can fly at once and, inexplicably, also a flight cooldown that limits how often you can sprout your wings. Potions, wing upgrades, and manastones can extend flight, as can flying through special rings in places like the Abyss, but if you were expecting to spend a lot of time in the air in this game, you will be extremely disappointed.

Believe it or not, I could easily double the length of this review with other bugs, problems, balance factors, and things that just plain need improvement. To sum it all up, Aion is a game that could be great if they would fix most- or heck, even a fraction- of the problems with it. Unfortunately, that list of problems is so long, and with so many intractable issues related to fundamental game design, that I honestly don't think it's likely or even feasible. Aion will probably survive for some time due to its original hard-core fan base- especially the Korean market, which seems to get all the updates months ahead of everyone else. However, I really don't see it getting any bigger or more successful, and once a true successor to WoW finally shows up, I doubt anyone will even remember it. I picked it up mainly because I was bored out of my mind with WoW, but my Aion experience has been so disappointing that I've decided to just go back.

I played this game until level 45 and I gotta say, this is a game that has the most raw potential but NCSoft has managed to ruin it. The economies in the game are horrible due to the rampant botters and gold farmers, and when I say horrible I mean way worse than WoW was when it first started or any other MMO I've played. The customer service is terrible, and interface is prone to scammers. For example, to craft certain items you have to GIVE the other player all the items. All items have a chance to "Proc" which means to turn into a better version of itself. I payed someone to craft one such item, it procced, and then he said I had to pay him extra for it and wouldn't give it back. When I brought this to the attention of NCSoft through a petition, they said that since I hadn't specified the price IN CASE it procced he was free to OWN my item.

Fortress sieges are some of the most mind-numbing experiences I have ever seen. It is a mindless serge to a tank and spank fight and there is no incentive (Or any feasable means to) defend a fortress. They also don't have to worry about balancing classes because there is hardly ever a balanced fight going on. There are no battle grounds or even sided battles, there's only world ganking (Besides the dredgion which isn't balanced and no one signs up for). You basically go into a zone and look for someone solo grinding a mob and gank them. If you have a group to gank with, so much the better.

That's it, it's not PvP it's how well can you tip the odds in your favor and gank. For a game that's suppose to be focused on PvP it depends heavily on tipping the odds in your favor and not upon the skill of the player. And don't even bother on the PvE, it's horribly boring and long amounts of trash mobs, only to get to bosses who are just slightly more complicated than a tank and spank. Best part, the drop rate for items is very poor. I've run one particular instance 30+ times and never seen any items other than random world drops, no epic items off of bosses.

If you like a gank fest with no real challenge to it, then this game is for you. It's pretty and is focused on acquiring gear through long amounts of grinding. If you're looking to compete in PvP or PvE and want a challenge, then this game isn't for you.

In conclusion, unbalanced fights and monotonous grinding doesn't make for a good game. And it isn't going to change any time soon.

Aion is a solid MMORPG. I'm not going to go on here and say it is a World of Warcraft killer or anything, but it has some aspects that I like better over WoW. The fantasy world of Aion itself is beautiful. I was really impressed with the way the world looks. The character creation system for the game is very well done. The characters look really good and there are a lot of options. In World of Warcraft, you get one type of human body, but in Aion you can be skinny, muscular, stocky, short, tall, and lots of other combinations, which is great.

I like the crafting system a lot. It reminds me of crafting in Lord of the Rings Online. The crafting system has a level of complexity I enjoy, but it is not so complex that it gets on my nerves. World of Warcraft's crafting system is so easy it is boring to me. Also, WoW's crafting system doesn't have much variety, so WoW kind of fails on crafting when compared to Aion. Also, I like the crafting halls in Aion. I enjoy seeing other people craft while I am crafting. One thing I never really liked about WoW is that there isn't really any crafting halls. The cities where the crafting halls are have teleporters that make it easy for you to go to the bank and back to the crafting hall for a small money drop, which is really great as well.

The Player versus Everything (PVE) play is very well done and challenging. Some people have complained that there is a lot of grinding. I'm not sure what MMORPG does not have a fair share of grinding really so I think this criticism is amusing. Anyway, NCSoft has started doing bonus XP weekends to help out the casual players, and so far I feel this has helped with any slowness in level gains.

The character classes are very good. I've played almost all of the classes and each one has something to offer. I feel that some of the classes are harder to play at early levels than others. Warriors seem to be the easiest class to play. However, I think the gameplay gets somewhat easier the higher in levels you get, due to added abilities. I would say the toughest classes to play are Assassin and Ranger, but I have not played them up to level 20 and they might get easier at a certain point. I do not know for sure.

In short, I would recommend this game to anyone looking for something new and different in the MMORPG genre.

We bought this game before it came out, because, unfortunately, we saw no THOROUGH definition of what "PvePvP" really means. I'll tell you what it means. It means you spend your first 22 levels doing your usual PvE questing and enjoying NP combat in a beautiful world with beautiful graphics, then you are forced into an area with NON STOP GANKING. You have no choice. Players much, much higher level than you will kill your poor character every five minutes. Complain on the forums, get called a "carebear". Some people enjoy PvE games and having a choice about when to PvP, and I'm one of them.

Also, the world is extremely small. There are only two races, so only two starting zones. Extremely limited content. The game is gorgeous, but kind of has no soul. It's really sad; this game has so much potential, but NCSoft refuses to listen to the game's western audience.

We quit probably 8 months ago, around level 23, and I still snarl with anger anytime I see a reference to Aion like it's my psychotic ex. It looked pretty, seduced me into spending lots of money and time on it, then turned abusive. BEWARE!!

This is an easy one. Front end loaded to get you past your free 30 days. Afterward... grind, grind, grind. I guess it's really made for those Korean kids who live at home, listen to Rain in their headphones and take pride in power leveling. It ain't flyin' here in the West. Oh, and you really don't fly much either. Hype, hype, hype.

Small world too. A noob island and 4 maps (same on both the light side and dark). The first part is nicely done... looks like a slightly prettier Guild Wars (of course it should be since GW has been out for 4 years now). I was very surprised how small the world was particularly when it's not a 3D map. Then it's off to "The Abyss" that looks like someone in their first year of art school designed it. Immense empty spaces with barren floating rocks. The old Yes album covers were WAY cooler. No one really plays it like it's intended. Just a place for high level guys who have grinded up to kill lower level folks who wander in. With so much emphasis on group ganking, you'd expect better developed guild...er, "legion" halls and meeting places. Nope. Most all of the players I "friended" in the first month are gone.

Levels 1 to 18... kinda fun starting out. Levels 19 to 25... suspiciously hard, but still there's plenty of quests. Levels 26 to 30... GRINDFEST devoid of quests or any substantive story. 31+... kill noobs, buy gold for real world money and kill more noobs.

And don't get me started about the crafting system. Oh joy, rapture. Let's stand in the same room and pound on virtual steel over and over and over and over. Ugh.

No story line or epic journey. A world was split in two, one side has white wings (hence they live in the light) and the other black wings (you guessed it... they live in the dark). They fight because... well... that's what people with white and black wings do. There's some other bad guys that fight both of them. They come in space ships, so I'm guessing they're aliens so some sort. Well... that's it. You know the story now. Sorry to spoil it for you.

Finally, the gold seller and bots. This game is a gold sink. EVERYTHING costs lots and lots of gold (kinah it's called). I mean lots. Death penalties, map travel, everything. The game is over-run with gold-for-cash sellers and their automated bots roaming the landscape. Though unprovable, I'm convinced these people are part of NCSoft or in league with them.

Boring to the nth degree.

Visually stunning and rich with content, Aion is the best MMO released in recent memories.

Buyers beware: After level 20, the game lapses into a seemingly endless cycle of "grind". The "grind" is obvious, and there is no way around it.

PvP at early level basically involves the entry level players being mercilessly torn apart and harassed by high level players.

Sure, it might not sound like much, but combined with the tedious and somewhat boring leveling curve, one could be persuaded to seek entertainment elsewhere.

Meanwhile, botters plague the game while NCSoft fails to even make a half-hearted effort to rid the game of those pests.

Aion is a solid game. It has everything a MMO needs to be successful, yet falls short on some key aspect. Yet, if you are an avid MMO lover like myself, give Aion a go. It's worth a buy. The inevitable grind and player-hostile environment will drive many away, but to some, it's an experience unlike others.

...Is the phrase that comes to mind when someone mentions AION to me. While Aion boasts some impressive graphics and PvP / PvPvE, the celestial battle ahead is not without some heavy flaws. This might make the game hard to swallow for some gamers, but a perfect fit for others.

** Do not be put off by my 2 star rating. Every game is different in the hands of different gamers. While I may of not enjoyed AION, perhaps you might! **


** GAMEPLAY **
Aion is one of many Fantasy based MMOs on the market. You could sit back and compare MMO to MMO all day long, from a WoW UI to an Everquest this or that but what it comes down to is how the MMO handles. In this aspect I feel that Aion has a 'mixed' gameplay feeling. There are many pros to the gameplay but also quite a few cons that simply refuse to go away it seems. I've tried Aion at launch, at the 12 month mark and with the new expansion. In all 3 attempts the gameplay just really didn't do it for me or the PvP experience.

Gameplay PROS: Aspects about the gameplay I found enjoyable are the use of Macros and fluid combat. The game boasts some awesome graphics(see DESIGN) and it shines when it comes to environments and combat especially. Skills look great and animations are very fluid. In fact it might have some of the best looking combat in any MMO I have played. The game uses Macros where you can code skills into a single click; This lets you trigger multiple skill combos off without cluttering your skill bar. While other MMOs have similar features I feel AION has the best implementation of Macros(very simple and easy to program) The ability for flight is a nice twist on combat. It comes in handy sometimes for strategic assaults on enemies or even a little PvP ambush.

Gameplay CONS: The grind is just bad. At launch it was horrific and after some patching it improved but still; this game really makes you work hard for your levels. This aspect scared quite a few people away as once you hit around level 25 it becomes terrifying to level. Flight mechanics are also very unreliable due to clunky controls plus take forever to recharge, making essence gathering a bit time consuming. Speaking of gathering, exactly why is there a "success/fail" bar? Either I gather my material or I fail... there is no reason why I need to wait there 10 seconds and watch as two bars slowly fill up and cross my fingers that Success beats fail! Questing becomes a nightmare in parts. It can go from simple, solo-ish quests to suddenly a mandatory 6 party group to fight elites all for a simple quest worth less experience than killing a few mobs. Not trying to nit-pick but it can just feel overly grind-ish at times to the point where it is an obvious time sink, not to mention how incredibly grindy combat gets in PvE at times. The PvP is also a major problem which I will get into below.

GAMEPLAY SUMMARY
+ Skill effects, graphics, fluidity
+ Flight Mechanics add strategy to the mix (mainly PvP focused)
+ Macro system handled professionally and very easy to use.
- Excessive grind
- Clunky flight mechanics
- Questionable gathering / crafting system
- Quest design is poor

** PvP MECHANICS **
This is what AION really is all about. PvPvE. Pretty much there is your standard PvP but also thrown into the mix is the Balaur which serve as AI based combatants that will agro either side. At any time the Balaur might target your group and swing the tide of battle during your fight or come to aid you before turning their eyes on you. It is an interest concept that does add some flair to PvP. While all this does sound good, there are serious problems with the PvP in AION. It pretty much is a Gankfest. It comes down to who ganks first, who has the fastest computer etc. I was in battles that literally were crashing computers(see DESIGN) because of just how graphically intense the game is plus how much is going on. Sometimes it was almost impossible to capture points simply because everyone would lag up to garbage FPS and the game became unplayable. The game has no mercy. If you want to advance you will be forced to PvP and quest in Hostile zones where you will be repeatedly ganked, body camped and have your quest mobs killed. The game is setup that way.

There is no PvE aspect to this game. YES there are maps in which no PvP can occur; but these areas will not advance you to level cap nor advance the storyline for you. In the end you will be forced to trudge through the PvP infested areas of the game and will be ganked repeatedly.


** GAME DESIGN **
Aion is a visual masterpiece for an MMO. Graphically it is two steps ahead of any MMO on the market today. While this is a blessing, it also can be a curse. This makes Aion fairly graphically intense. Do not let the system requirements fool you. People with high end SLI rigs have crashed during massive PvP gankfests even when setting graphics to Low. It is a lot for a PC to take in with so much happening so fast. However, in a way this is a good thing because it does tell you that PvP can be intense. It is a war out there and it isn't pretty(in the good sense). Gear looks incredible. Pump up the graphics and your character just looks amazing. There was a ton of effort put into the character design and gear, even how your wings look.

Class wise, AION handles that by allowing you to select a master class; basic like healer, caster, rogue, warrior. Complete your ascension and you will be given the choice of two classes, often counters of one another like a DPS Gladiator or the TANKing Guardian. Once the selection is made you can't undo it so there is no multi-classing. Skills will be obtained by purchasing skill books every few levels. At this point it becomes a standard MMO... take quests, kill mobs etc etc. Level up very slowly to get strong and hit cap where you can run dungeons and participate fully in PvP.

** OVERALL **
Not much more I can say. I've tried AION quite a few times and actually was the last of my friends left playing it. Everyone tried it in my guild but in the end we all returned to our previous MMO at the time. It is hard for me to admit that AION is a bad game simply because that is just my Opinion. What is bad to me might be amazing to another, but seeing as how my entire guild left the game within 3 months might say something about AION's quality. Even after a year, and Expansion the game has not changed enough to make it enjoyable for me. The grind, the ganking, the grindy combat; it is still all there.

With all that I said in mind I give AION 2 stars. It just doesn't have any long term appeal to me, nor anything that brings enjoyment. There is no sense of accomplishment either. It is just grind.. grind.. However, if you are interested in AION as a possible MMO you should ask around the aion forums for a trial. Players who have enough time into the game can issue trial keys to people to give them some time to try the game out. Best way to judge a game is to play it yourself in the end ^_^


** NOTE: Aion has merged multiple servers in the NA and EU due to low player count. NA has 4 servers Oceanic has 1 server EU has 8 servers
** NOTE: You can check the aion main page to find server stats, # of guilds, class breakdowns etc currently on the server. However these #'s are inaccurate since they count TOTAL accounts, not currently active accounts.

Aion is a good looking game. Starting at around level 20, PvP will be forced on you. If you enjoy having your characters killed while you are questing 15 minutes from the rez point by the opposing faction who is 25 levels higher than you, play Aion.